Impact of talent management on career development at Eskom.

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Eskom is a state-owned company that is run by an Executive which reports to a Board. As part of the existing Eskom structures, the Human Resources (HR) Department reports to the Chief Executive and the Board. It is accountable for a structure includes in its value chain, talent management. The purpose of the talent management system at Eskom is to provide, among other services, a defined talent management process to attract, grow and retain top talent in core, critical and scarce skills. Within Eskom’s talent management system there are evident weaknesses that inhibit a successful implementation of the talent management process. This research was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of the talent management system at Eskom and to ascertain the effect thereof on career development. The objectives of the study were to: identify the challenges that inhibit the implementation of the talent management process at Eskom; establish the effect of talent management on career development for employees in Eskom; establish the role of leadership in ensuring the successful implementation of talent management in Eskom; and identify interventions to improve the implementation of talent management in Eskom. Owing to the social and complex nature of the study, a qualitative research approach, was adopted because of its ability to capture perceptions, reality and feelings of participants at Eskom. Purposive sampling was used. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 respondents at Eskom Head Office comprised of: three senior managers accountable for talent management, two HR talent and skills practitioners and nine managerial staff. The data was collected and analysed in themes. The study also examined demographic data of participants and their roles in the organisation, years of service, age category and level of education to ensure that all views were consistently considered and represented. Through interviews with Eskom staff, this qualitative study has identified definite areas of improvement for Eskom’s talent management programme. The identified need to enhance the talent management programme was greatly influenced by the findings which indicated poor implementation and leadership commitment to talent management. The findings further indicated that, in ensuring an invaluable impact of talent management to career and leadership development, it is recommended that Eskom leadership must play a critical role in aggressively and consistently driving talent management and
the alignment of policies relevant to talent management. This could be done through simplifying the talent management process and inculcating a culture of engagement.